


Beacon to Damnation

by MrNeighbourlyWriter



Category: And Time Again, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Body Horror, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Multi, Psychological Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 08:32:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16869640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrNeighbourlyWriter/pseuds/MrNeighbourlyWriter





	1. Contact

Leere Dragmire groaned as she traveled down the waves. Up until now the sea had been rather steady. All the rockiness on the boat was making her a tad motion sick. Apparently the active Volcano underwater made the water unsteady and boiling hot. Nothing could live underneath the waves, and those like her above had to deal with the bullshit of the sea. “I think I’m gonna throw up…”  
And last but not least, the Volcano provided power to her destination. The Ancient Sheikah Fortress Colony, the Goddess’s Shield, or Divine Beast Rata Sal. Leere was careful to study up on it with her mother before heading out to investigate it. The gargantuan device was made to house those who wanted to flee from Hyrule during one of her Fathers much more destructive lives. Zelda gushed how she would love nothing more then to travel with her daughter to see such wonderful technology.  
It was a month out of Hyrule to travel to and was miles long. Apparently it was also shaped as a turtle, in line with the other Divine Beasts. Only its head was above the water, the ‘shell’ acting as an underwater haven. Seemed the Ancient Sheikah really valued animals in their architecture. Now it was used by a colony of scientists using the isolation to perform a verity of experiments. The only reason Leere was investigating was because a friend of hers sent a startling and vague letter asking for help.  
The Captain watched carefully. No one on board the Divine Beast had noticed them. “Princess Leere. We are nearing the mouth of the Divine Beast. We’ll be making our way inside shortly.  
“Thank you Captain.”  
“I still don’t like a lady going alone on a diplomatic mission.”  
“I’m aware Captain. However, that’s why one, I’m agreeing to a protection detail, and two, you can rest easy knowing I can take care of myself just fine.”  
The Captain sighed and shuffled his hat straight. “Alright Princess Leere. Just so we are clear again, you’ll have to wait ten hours for pickup. The Head of the Divine Beast has a diving cycle. It will be lowering in less then an hour, so you’ll have to move quickly. I’ll be back when it comes up again.”  
“Understood Captain.”  
Leere got prepared to board the Goddess’s Hand. A small group of Hylian Knights accompanied the Princess as the reached the mouth. The Divine Beast bottom jaw rested in the water, allowing the ship to pass through. On the inside dim lights allowed enough visibility to see. It must be a necessary requirement with the lack of sunlight underwater Leere thought to herself.  
Climbing into a small row boat, Leere ignored the fact she was tightly packed in with a group of men all physically larger then her. Both being adopted, the only person that could feel her pain was Rinku, standing at the same height as her. The rest of her brothers and sisters took advantage of her small height. Covarog and Ralnor especially. One of them looked down at her. “You need more room Princess?”  
“I’m fine. Thank you…” Leere gave a light scowl as she was squished between two men. As they rode out she thought back to the note.  
“Leere, please, if you get this you need to come here. Things are getting unnerving around here. Every since Doctor Ichabod has completed work on the Beacon people haven’t been themselves. People have been acting erratic, aggressive and out of line. A college had a breakdown and tried to destroy the Beacon. He injured three of the staff before he was taken down by security. He just kept raving it was evil. I didn’t know what to think at the time, but lately I’ve been having nightmares. Horrible Nightmares. My mother telling me to…kill myself. And when I’m awake I swear I’m hearing voices. And apparently I’m not the only one. I think this all started with the activation of the Beacon. We tried to address this with Doctor Ichabod, but he refuses to listen to our requests. Please Leere, I have this dreadful feeling that something is going to happen. We need someone with authority to talk to him. Please hurry.  
Your Friend, Carlos.”  
The Beacon. That intrigued Leere. Beacons were used as signals. But what was this Beacon linked to? She looked back to see the Captain’s ship sail out of the mouth of the Divine Beast. Shortly enough they landed onto the metal plating of the Beast. All the crew were careful to not touch the water as they stepped off. Looking around Leere noticed the lack of any type of local personal. As they walked towards the door to the rest of the facility, lights and sirens flashed around in the neck. It was a low long sound. As it went on, a deep screeching of metal echoed as the mouth closed tight.  
“Well no going back I suppose.”  
After it closed, the ground shook beneath them as the head lowered. Leere quickly realized a problem, the water inside it’s mouth was starting to be thrown around as the head descended into the volcanic water. “Run to the door! Now!”  
The men in their heavy armour tried to keep their balance as they ran forward. If all things went well, these Shiekah doors had sensors where touching the blue circle in the center would open them, and holding them would lock them. As they ran forward a bucket sized amount of water splashed on one of the guards backs. He screamed as it instantly heated up the metal on his back. Quickly he tore it off as they reached the door. Leere slammed her hand on the button, and the door opened. All five of them made it inside and the Captain locked the door.  
“God damn it that was close.”  
“I heard protocol is no one it allowed in the mouth in the final half an hour of submerging and emerging. Now we know why.” Leere quickly looked over the one guard that got unlucky. His back was scolded badly and he couldn’t stop screaming out of his clenched teeth. “Hey, stop moving and give me a moment.”  
Her hands went over his back and she concentrated. Healing wasn’t her speciality. Necromancy was, however, Zelda refused to have her daughter be solely taught the Dark Arts. She said a little bit of light never hurt. At the very least she was able to stop the pain, and the man stopped screaming in turn. “You ok?”  
He quivered and nodded his head. “Y-yeah. I think so.”  
The Captain thought it over. “Alright. Torak, you stay here and guard our exit. You’re in no condition to wander forward.”  
“Yes sir…”  
After they stood the soldier up, Leere and the rest of her guards walked down the throat of the Divine Beast. It was just long metallic hallway. Everyone could hear the gears turning as the head continued to lower. As they got deeper though, Leere smelt something off. Reaching the end of the neck the group stopped. Some kind of purple fluid leaked through the door.  
“What the hell is that Captain.”  
“I-I don’t know. Princess Leere? Can you make anything out?”  
Leere looked at the biomass closely. It smelt awful. Touching it, it suddenly shot back inside the door. Every guard drew their weapon. Leere moved back herself. It was alive. “Captain. I’m going to open the door now.”  
“Princess, I’d advice against that.”  
“Captain, consider my words law and advising you to put a sock in it.”  
Leere inched forward, and when it felt right, she pressed the door open. As the doors slid open she was greeted to an absolutely normal floor. It was rather large, with a few glass dividers on the side. Seemed like a welcoming room. But after the red goop a normal room was extremely unsettling. As all the men walked in Leere took a look around. Going around she suddenly heard a small crash. Was it the purple goo?  
Opening a door she went around the glass divider to the rest of the men. Peering around she saw a broken open vent and a small bit of blood trailing into it. Dread filled her as she followed where the vent lead. Looking up around she saw it go right into the room with the rest of the men. The low dimmed lights and glass made it hard to see, but a violent burst of metal shot out as a figure fell from a top vent.  
It was a man, but all the flesh on his face had been peeled back, and his jaw sunk low. His eyes however were blood shot with blood streaming down from his eye sockets. His movements were erratic as he grabbed the closest guard and, filled with rage, ripped into his neck with his mouth over and over. Leere pounded on the window. “RUN! GET OUT OF THERE!”  
More of these rage filled monsters burst from vents. The Captain and other surviving soldier cut into them, but they kept coming, even as their limbs were chopped off. As they kept fighting the northern door opened. A large monster with four slender arms walked out. It had bird like feet and a beak, but also dozens of eyes on it’s head. It grabbed the Captain by each limb with every one of its own, receiving a scream from him. With the Captain locked it looked over him curiously, before slowly ripping every limb off the Captain. The awful tearing of flesh echoed in the room, mixed with the high pitched screams of the man.  
The last remaining soldier opened the West Door and ran for his life. The Captain gave his last screams as all the normal monsters savagely ate alive what as left of him, tearing open his stomach to claw away and devour his insides. The larger monster pointed at Leere, slowly extending a slender arm and finger, and let out a screeching, but defiant scream. The rest of the monsters roared in rage and ran towards her, slamming and cracking the glass window. Leere went to the East Door and frantically opened it. As she ran through she heard the glass break behind her.  
Leere ran. It was all she could do. She focused her magic on them, hoping to manipulate them, but it was no use. Whatever they were, they weren’t fully undead, which meant she couldn’t fully control them. Shit. In front of her one of the rage filled monsters jumped from the vents to attack her. “Shit! Fuck you!”  
As it went to grab her, Leere took out her scythe and, pressing a button, the blade slide out, and at the last moment, cut the head off her attacker. It thrashed around and tried to grab her, a chicken with it’s head cut off. Leere quickly moved to run as she heard the scampering of more of these things behind her, yelling for blood.  
The young necromancer made it to the door down the curved hall and, getting through, turned around to lock the door behind her. There was a moment of worry until the door finally turned red and locked. The door was pounded against by those who wanted to tear her apart. It sounded like a choir of demons. Turning around Leere saw blood sprayed everywhere and a few body parts scattered about. “What the hell is going on here?…”


	2. Close Encounters

Leere paced herself. The sound of the monsters banging on the door never end, but she kept it locked nice and tight. It didn’t make her feel any better. “When will you all shut the hell up…”  
She looked around the blood soaked room. What madness had taken place here? Ripped body parts and strands of flesh laid about. If she wasn’t so used to such sights and worse, then she’d gag. The only thought she had was where were the rest of the bodies to these loose pieces?  
That was when she spotted a severed head. She’d prefer a living person but this would have to do. “Please let your brain still be intact.”  
Channeling her magic, and picking up the head, she willed it to come to life. It’s soul would have passed on, giving it no personality, but she could at least learn from the knowledge she carried in life. The head’s eyes rolled from a white pupil back down to blood shot ‘normal’ eyes.  
“Hello there. What’s your name?”  
The head spoke in a raspy destroyed voice. “….Kat…..”  
Leere smiled, parting the bloody hair out of Kat’s face. “Nice to meet you Kat, I’m Leere. Can you tell me what happened here?”  
“…..We used the beacon…..”  
“What’s the Beacon Kat?”  
“…..Our solution to life after death…..it would give us answers…..”  
As a Necromancer Leere knew the dangers of playing with the dead, but more importantly souls and the afterlife.  
“So what happened with this Beacon?”  
“….The Beacon was activated to 10%…..People went insane…..Upon reaching 50%……Demon’s came through to our world.”  
“What Demons? Why’d you bring Demon’s through?”  
“….Never wanted that…..never wanted that at all….we only wanted to do good…..”  
“What good? Tell me!”  
Leere was about to listen to an answer when she heard a grueling slime form behind her. It was the purple goo from before. It leaked through the locked door, and was starting to force it open. “Oh fuck no.”  
Leere dropped the head and ran to the door ahead. Looking back, she saw the zombified crew growling and reaching for her as the first cracks opened in the locked door. She begged the gods to hurry up and open her door. When it did, it didn’t shut behind her. “Oh Din, why now?”  
The monsters broke through and the purple goo scattered as they ran after Leere, full sprint and screaming. Leere took a look back to see they were faster then her, and gaining quick speed. Quickly channeling a spell, she opened little portals. Coming to her aid Dead Hands shot out and grabbed the vile crew. One tripped over and broke its neck. A few had their limbs torn off by the white and bloody hands. The rest roared in anger and tore at the hands, making short work of them. This gave Leere just enough time to turn around a corner. Going around she saw a quick room on the left and took it. Running in she scanned her surroundings quickly and hid underneath a desk.  
The snarls and screams of the monsters were heard as they ran completely down the main hallway past her. One stayed and scratched around, looking for her. Leere stopped breathing, and slowed her heart down. She didn’t know how many of those things were outside. She didn’t want to fight a swarm.  
The curious one twitched and entered her room, it’s head buzzing around as it looked around, drooling and snarling the whole way through. Leere saw it’s leg come into view as it took a step. It’s foot twitched and Leere could see the blood dripping down its leg, and parts of its skin ripped to shreds.  
‘Go the fuck away’, Leere thought to herself over and over. The Zombified crewman growled as it took another step. Leere knew that just hiding wasn’t going to cut it. Channeling her powers she had Kat scream to the top of her lungs. The monster spun around and ran as fast as it could to the source of the sound. Leere took this moment to get out of her hiding spot and head to the door way just across from her. The sounds of broken skull matter and flesh were the last things she heard before the door shut behind her. “Thank you Kat.”  
Kat did her job, and Leere felt little guilt about what she did. The soul had left the body long ago. Flesh was just a tool without it. Never the less she gave a private thank you for her use.  
With the danger currently not fully present, Leere calmed herself and looked around. She was in some kind of narrow hallway. Walking along it she took in how rusted the metal was. Seemed not every part of the ancient Divine Beast could be taken care of. Understandable. Yet how’d such a grand underwater structure stay in take for thousands upon thousands of years? Something had to keep it in check.  
As she walked down she reached an elevator. Going inside it was operated by a crank switch. One direction up, and one direction down. Cranking it she found herself going down.  
It made a large creaking sound as the gears grinded, even sparks shooting from the metal scraping together. “Those Ancient Shiekah must have run out of a budget in making the last of these…”  
In her travels of going through messed up situations, Leere learned it was best to talk to one’s self. Kept you from going insane. “Because what company is better then-“  
Leere stopped talking when she came at the end of the elevator ride and saw a human being at the end of the hallway. “HEY!”  
The figure ignored her and walked down a corridor. Leere scowled and ran after them. “Wait!”  
Leere looked around for them, but they were no where to be seen. As she looked around the individual bunk rooms, Leere suddenly felt a wave a nausea. Her vision went red for a second and she had a three second throbbing in her head. “What?”  
Following that she could have sworn she heard the giggles of Kanisa. When her sister was 6 years old. “Kani?”  
Something felt off. As Leere looked around she saw streaks of blood, but no flesh. She even picked up on a trail leading up a wall to inside a vent. Where did this person go? Hearing another giggle she followed the source of the noise cautiously.  
As they rounded the corner Leere saw them at the end of the hall. The lights of the Divine Beast had the room a low blue, a fluorescent glow capture the level she was on. At the end the figure lightly pounded his head against the wall. The noise it made was gooy, yet slightly crunchy. Leere grabbed the hilt of her staff cautiously. “Turn around. Slowly.”  
Stopping, he let out a broken groan, the sound of one who’s neck had been snapped in an accident. Leere watched as he-it, snapped its body around. Leere felt she was ready for a fight. It looked at her with no eye’s in its sockets, and no teeth, just a large, toothless smile. It extended its arms wide, almost like a hug. That was when Leere felt another migraine, and it spoke to her in her mind telepathically, its voice that of Zelda’s. “Leere, come here. Let me feel you darling.”  
Leere eyes widen with fear and anger. This threat was more then just some kind of infection or monsters. It felt demonic. Evil. “Get out of my mind.”   
“Everyone will join us….you have such pretty flesh my child.” It now spoke in Ganondorf’s voice. As it took another step towards her, its face split apart to reveal another, bright red and muscly, and spear like appendages shot out of its back. Leere drew her scythe and deflected the first strike from one of her attackers new limbs. As Leere backed away, it kept walking towards her, the lights behind it flickering.  
She kept deflecting strikes, until the monster brought down its two back appendages down towards her in a vertical strike. Leere lifted her hilt up to block the strike, but in doing so, left herself open. This allowed her attacker to grab her by the arms and push her to the floor on her back. It pinned her and its jaw split open like a snake, a tongue licking the top of her breasts up to her neck, and started to choke her with it. It then spoke in Rinku’s voice. “It will be over soon my love.”  
“Not….HER!” Leere used her magic before she got her head bitten off, and a Wall Master dropped from above, grabbed her attacker, and lifted it to the ceiling as it flailed and growled. It went through a dark portal in roof, and, after stepping back, when Leere squeezed her fist, a pool of blood gushed downwards.  
She took deep breaths and shook her head. That was too damned close. As her mind spun she felt some kind of draw at the center of the Divine Beast. Like a fish being slowly pulled by a lure. She had to know what was happening here. Grabbing her scythe she continued down the halls.  
Eventually she reached a more open room, looking like some kind of laboratory. There was a body lying near a desk, stab wounds in their back. Investigating Leere saw they had tried to reach for a folder. Going over she grabbed it and looked through the files. She stopped when she heard a creak behind her.  
~  
Dr. Ichabod felt his beloved Diana. He was so close. So close to seeing her again. All he did was make a miscalculation. One fucking miscalculation and everyone blamed him! They had no backbone! No trust! The bastards that were formally his co-workers took one of the conductor orbs away. In the chaos the monsters scared them off. You can’t reach heaven without a little hell. The angels. He just had to listen to the angels and everything would work out fine.   
He looked back into the Beacon to see the crack in dimensions. Maybe if he listened hard enough he could hear heaven again. “100%. 100% and I will spit in the eye of the Zarazu and Ba’Puu, the rest of the Gods, and see you again my dear Diana. I can’t wait to see what being an angel has done to you.”


	3. Contact

Leere turned around to see a blooded man hobble towards her. His arm is stained red and his eyes are dazed. He had a gun slowly trying to aim at her, but his thoughts fought against him as he tried to lift the revolver. “You…are you real?”  
Leere wasn’t sure what to make of that at first. She studied him more carefully, his longer locks of dark hair caught in his eyes. He was a mess to be sure, but she recognized him. “Carlos, I’m real.”  
“H-how do you know my name?” He doesn’t lower the gun. “How do I know you aren’t one of those THINGS burrowing in my mind!?”  
Leere raised her hands and tried to give a light smile. He had been through a lot. “Carlos, it’s me, Leere. I know you because we studied the Underground burial ground of Kakariko Village together. I know you because you are a wonderful mind. I’m the creepy gay girl into dead stuff and you geared towards life and the cold indifference of technology. Ring any bells?” Specifics. She had to be specific to get through to him.  
A flicker of hope went in Carlos’s eyes. His hand shook as he held the revolver.  
“Leere? Is that really you?”  
“Yes Carlos. I got your message. I’m here.”  
She extended a hand as a gesture of good fill and protection. ‘Please take it.’  
Carlos started to hyperventilate at the shock of actual hope. “Leere? Oh god, it is you.”  
The young man rushed over and hugged Leere, snivelling like a child. Leere held him close and rubbed his back, trying to not be crushed by his height. “It’s going to be ok. I’m here now. I’m gonna get you out.”  
Carlos shook his head and let go, walking around in a circle. “N-No, we can’t leave. Not yet. We have to stop it.”  
“The Beacon?”  
“YES! YES!” Carlos took a step closer to Leere, some small amount of madness in his eyes. And terrible fear. “I can hear it, taunting me, creeping in the corners of my mind. Those monsters will eventually get out, yes they will, and so many will die.”  
Carlos’s head spun to a nose only he could hear. “They’re coming. They’re coming! We have to destroy the Beacon!”  
Leere was concerned for her friends well being. It would be difficult to look after him with this erratic behaviour. “Ok, we can do that, but I need you to calm down Carlos.”  
Carlos shook his head again and again. “We need to flood the Divine Beast, sink it into the abyss.”  
Leere was getting annoyed. “Carlos. Calm. Down.”  
The roar of a creature echoed throughout the hull of the Divine Beast. Carlos got spooked and immediately ran out. Leere gritted her teeth. “No god damn it get back here!”  
As she ran after him she saw something on the ceiling between them out of the corner of her eye. Leere’s instincts were to raise her scythe to defend herself. Sure enough something dropped to attack her, but bounced off the hilt of her weapon. Carlos didn’t even turn around to help. Leere spun around to face her attacker. It was some sort of torso with four clawed legs. Its ‘head’ was just a set of jaws on the end of one side of the torso. And it wasn’t entirely clear, but it appeared to have a pair of eyes inside its mouth. Unblinking hungry eyes.  
It scrambled towards her, and when Leere took a stance, it suddenly rocketed towards her. She had to throw herself against the wall to avoid having her stomach sliced open from such speed, but due to the unforeseen attack, she didn’t move in time to be totally unscathed. Her shoulder was cut open badly by the wide range of the claws.  
Her eyes shot open with pain, and she gave a pained scream of rage. Her muscles burned and she could only hope these group of monsters didn’t rely on some sort of infection.  
Leere spun around to face the creature. Instead of it simply stopping and spinning around, it kept its speed, crawling from the floor to the wall, and started to turn around to attack her again, finally moving from the wall to the ceiling again.  
Blood dripped from the claw that got her and its movements were erratic. Leere gripped her scythe carefully. Blood dripped down her left arm and the grip hurt more then she cared to admit. “Focus. One shot, one kill Leere.”  
Her memories went back to her adoptive father and her training…  
~  
“Dad. I can’t get it right.”  
Ganondorf shook his head. “It’s all about momentum my dear.”  
Rinku watched from the side, the fifteen year old waiting for Leere to finish so they could return to their room. “It’s just an apple Leere. Maybe think of it as an apple of evil?”  
“The apple that won’t let me slide my tongue in your-“ Leere was cut off by Ganondorf throwing another apple at her head when she wasn’t looking. Rinku blushed and continued her sword swings. Leere rubbed her head with groan. “Hey!”  
“Stay focused.” Ganondorf tossed another apple up and down in his hand.  
“I’m trying.”  
“Then try harder. If our sessions of magic focus on the mind, then this will apply the physical as well. Concentrate. Your eyes are a powerful tool when used right. You must feel out your target as well. Get a fix on them with the physical and predict their movements after with the mind.”  
Leere looked at the apple as well as it went up and down in Ganondorf’s hand. She took a deep breath and took in her surroundings. To her the movement was fluid and slow.  
“In time, you will use less time to think, and your body will just react. All you need is a little focus.” Before Ganondorf threw it such high speeds, Leere could see where the path of the apple was going. Her instinct to protect herself brought her practice sword up…  
~  
Leere’s instincts and rage kicked in and she swiped with her scythe upwards as the monster lunged at her. She looked into its eyes unblinking as she severed the thing directly in half down the middle. A second too late she would have been dead, too early she would have only injured it. The two halves of the creature landed behind her with a sticky thump.  
To her horror though it wasn’t over. Down the hall behind her a group of those rage filled monsters from before scrambled down, attracted by the noise and blood. Leere’s adrenaline was pumping hard now, but so was the blood going down her arm. “Not now.”  
Quickly conjuring a spell she summoned a Gibido Knight to her aid, as well as a few Redeads. They gave a collective scream that would normally paralyse normal beings, but the monsters seemed unfazed. Fortunately the knight’s sword was more practical. It brought its blade down on a few of the monsters, and the Redeads clashed with their victims, all of them trying to rip each other apart.  
Leere didn’t stick around to see who would come out on top. She ran down the hall to try and find Carlos when another one of those Torso creatures tried to cut her off. Out of its mouth a blade like tongue shot out, stabbing through her calf. The Necromancer let out a scream of pain, cursing her predicament. Focusing her magic she choose to reanimate the previous creature she sliced in half. One half of the monster rose up and jumped at her attacker, bringing its clawed leg down on the monsters back.  
Grabbing her knife in her leg sheath, she quickly cut off the tongue, and, grabbing the barb in her leg, Leere gritted her teeth as she pulled out the jagged edge. Throwing it away with her hand now bleeding as well, she hobbled to safely. She turned around to see two of the rampaging monsters had survived and killed her familiars. They snarled and screamed as they went after her. Leere’s eyes widened with fear as she moved as quickly as she could.  
Getting to a door she held down the button and prayed for salvation. When they opened she went in and locked the door as quickly as she could. Doing so she was about to feel relief when she noticed their was a glass window that separated the two rooms. The Monsters snarled as they threw themselves at the window.  
If there was one little bit of pity Leere was going to get in her life, this was it. The window held and the two rage filled beasts beat on the window, their eyes fixed on Leere. She looked back them with an angry smugness. “You can stay right there you bastards.”  
Now relatively safe, Leere’s adrenaline died down, and she felt her wounds get to her. Her body felt heavily drained. If she didn’t do something she’d bleed out soon. Thankfully, this free access to her own blood would be her salvation.  
Dabbing her fingers she started to make a rune around herself. Blood Magic was an ancient and powerful art, capable of such great abilities. Monstrous mostly. Finishing the rune she began a chant and the blood around her swirled around. With extreme pain her wounds sealed closed, her flesh contorting to heal itself. Her eyes glowed more red then usual, and her skin a more pale white as her healing process finished. Another thing she knew for certain even the most ‘tame’ blood magic could be considered to be unnatural.  
As she was wrapping up another wave shot out through out the Divine Beast and Leere felt another tremendous headache. Looking up through her daze she saw one of the monsters tapping on the window to her. Its eyes were filled with happy madness as it tapped on the window. What worried her was its mouth moving, it talking to her. She couldn’t hear it behind the window, but she could read lips.  
“I’m coming now. Tell me, when the power to all the doors go out, can you outrun all of them?”  
Leere’s eyes widened in alarm. Sure enough a surge went out through out the Divine Beast and the ancient machine let out what could only be described as a cry of agony, an animal in pain. The red light on the locked door flickered and Leere gave one last look at the monster outside her door as it smiled at the fear dripping down her face.  
Leere took off running as the doors opened. It seemed now as if there was less screaming coming from the rage filled monsters, and more panting, more lust then wrath to get to her. Running to a ladder, Leere frantically started to climb. When one of the two attackers behind her jumped at her, she braced herself, and gave it a good kick to the head, sending it falling to the ground. It landed with a hard crack, snapping its neck.  
Getting to the top Leere spun around a drove the hilt of her scythe through the head of the second attacker as it climbed up the ladder after her. She kept stabbing up and down until it fell down. Her hilt was covered in blood and gooey brain matter.  
After the last body fell Leere scanned her surroundings. The Divine Beast had gotten darker. Listening closely she could hear the eerie quietness of the water outside. A boiling sea of volcanic water surrounded her outside, and she was trapped with monsters on the inside.  
Walking forward Leere was about to round a corner when she saw the large beaked creature with multiple eyes from before. The one that tore the Captain into pieces. It turned to her direction and Leere threw herself back around the corner to hide. The tip of her head went to look to peak, and she saw in its hands it had a full intact body. Leere felt if she wanted she could reanimate the corpse to her will, but she was curious how the Beast worked.  
It took one talon and stabbed it into the heart of the corpse. Leere could see purple veins pump through the finger into the body. The corpse of the woman started to shake violently and organs popped inside. Blood dripped out from the mouth and eyes and it gave an angry yell. At this point Leere couldn’t connect with the body anymore. It was inhabited by something else. With a mind and soul.  
The smaller creature took off, but the larger beast looked around, smelling the air. Leere grew agitated, more so when it gave a screechy caw. With that it ran towards the hall opposite of her. The Princess wiped her brow of sweat and kept going forward. She had to find where Carlos ran off to.  
~  
Todd was petrified by all the horror he had witnessed. His whole squad was torn to pieces and he abandoned the Princess. Monsters kept attacking him. That was fine. He was trained to deal with beasts. He was a soldier. It was the other things that got to him.  
He started to hear voices inside his head. Whispers. Listening to one almost got him killed by a trap. And with every wave of nausea it only got worse. And he thought he saw things. Things that may or may not be there. Like some sort of…thing, stalking him. Seeing its head peering around the corner with tapping fingers, before darting back into the darkness.  
His sword arm twitched as he kept on guard. Walking through the next door he was not expecting to see such a big obelisk in the room. The room itself was large and spherical. Tubes and catwalks were spread out all around the obelisk. Above the obelisk was a black hole, like tear opening in the air. Just looking at it made him feel…uncomfortable.  
Todd couldn’t stop looking at it, even just as unnatural as it felt. He was drawn to it. Looking at it long enough though he saw something inside. Hid eyes blinked at first, unsure, then he got a good look. Something absolutely terrible that the mind couldn’t comprehend. His eyes went from a blank curiosity, slowing transforming into a primal fear.  
“Oh God. No. NO!”  
Spinning around he wasn’t expecting to see a normal man. The man looked pissed off. In Todd’s shock at looking inside the tear, he didn’t clue into the man holding a knife, and he certainly the man to thrust a knife inside his open hip. “You are unworthy of the gift of Heaven!”  
Todd walked backwards in pain. Bleed pumped out. How could he be so careless? “Who the fuck are you?!”  
“My name is Doctor Ichabod. Creator of the Beacon. And its protector. I am the one who will bridge our realm with Heaven.”  
Todd carefully took out his sword. He could see the madness in Ichabod’s eyes. “You’re a lunatic!”  
“I am not one to judge. The angels are.” Ichabod started to suddenly back off. “And they will judge you now.”  
Todd felt dread fill him and he turned around just in time to be impaled by a monstrous creature. It pierced right through his hard armour and Todd couldn’t even scream as it lifted him up. All he could do was look into its eyes as it proceeded to tear him to bloody pieces.  
Doctor Ichabod smiled. The Angel was satisfied. He looked back to the tear. Inside he could hear her. “My Diana. My sweet, sweet Diana. The time is almost nigh.”  
He looked at it curiously. His face then frowned. “What? The Engineering room?”  
Listening closer Ichabod’s eyes flared with hysterical rage. “NO! I WON’T ALLOW IT!” With that he ran off.


	4. A Triggered Soul

Leere walked farther and farther down the steel halls of the Divine Beast. The waves as the giant mechanical marvel could be heard crashing against it as it slowly glided under the ocean’s surface. To be perfectly honest, she was getting tired of all this shit that surrounded her. The blood, the rust, the bodies, and the general nightmare. Why the fuck did she have knack for attracting it?  
Trying to find Carlos or the source of the chaos was draining her. Leere would have settled for finding a way to sink the entire machine and be done with it.  
Rounding a corner suddenly came a man with a fleshy sac on his head. He looked like something that belonged in the uncanny valley giving off a special kind of madness. Before Leere could defend herself she was shot with a spray of green mist that she inhaled upon contact.  
“God damnit!” Her eyes were getting watery and she could barely keep them open enough to see the man swinging a claw blade at her. Snarling, Leere raised her scythe to defend herself and smack him away with the hilt.  
The man tumbled a little back, but kept his footing. When he turned his head, it was like it was snapping towards her, his neck cracking in one motion. Out of a cut out smile in his mask, worms crawled out. Leere hated worms. When he spoke he had a raspy whisper to his voice. The same voice of the man violated her before her adoption. Why did he have that voice?  
Ichabod smiled as he drew closer. To Leere the smile was too large, too bent out of shape. “You feel it don’t you now? The unworthy are always doomed to fear.”  
Leere’s mind was cracking as her reality was bending. Around her the Divine Beast felt much, much darker, whispers clawing for her attention. Was that sweat, blood, or something else she felt going down her back? Focus. For the love god stay focused. That gas. The bastard must have used a fear hallucination compound. As if the monsters weren’t bad enough.   
“Who are you? I am Leere Dragmire. Born on the 56th of Fall. Adoptive Daughter to Zelda and Ganondorf. Princess of Hyrule. I demand your identity!” The woman didn’t mean to ramble, but it was a coping mechanism to state her full identity to retain control of herself.  
The man had a hunched slither as he eyed for an opening. The worms slithered up his legs as they fell to the ground. “Foolish Princess. I will not let you or your family disrupt gods work. The angels must not be stopped. I must not be stopped. Heaven is so close to us now! I AM SO-“  
Ichabod’s head darted to the side. To Leere he made a terrible cracking sound once more, and the back of his head had rotting, disgusting goops of pink flesh dropping in chuncks. Turning back to her his eyes were like the void, a tiny spiral of yellow looking at her, reminding her of a terrifying book she read as a child. “The angels are coming for you now. I must prepare for heaven.”  
Ichabod scampered off as Leere tried to compose herself. In the distance snarls and screams of hunger echoed at the end of the arching hall, growing closer and closer. Leere felt the whispers beating against her head.  
“You’ll be forgotten.”  
“We’ll catch you.”  
“You’re going to die.”  
“And no one will care.”  
They kept beating into her head like drums. Was this the madness the crew felt? Screaming in defiance Leere ran off to a different room. Inside cogs turned and made a noise equal to the internal drumming she felt. Turning a corner she find a nice blind spot to squeeze into.  
As soon as she did the swarm had arrived. They tore through snarling and clawing, trying their best to find her. Some were foolish enough to get stuck in the grinding gears, being easily torn apart. The sounds of shattering bone and guts stabbed into Leere’s psyche.  
“Where did you go?”  
Oh. Oh god. She could hear them now. And unlike the voices of her family from those other creatures, these felt like individuals she didn’t know. The crew? Or something else.  
“Come out. Come out. Come out.”  
Leere felt her lips move on their own to speak, to tell them to shut up. Her eyes widening she bit down on her lower lip to stop herself from talking, or making any sound if she could help it. Dozens of them looked around. Leere could hear them all stand up at once upright like normal human beings. The synchronized movement caused her to get a whiff of their rotting flesh. Her eyes watered from the filth of it all. Why couldn’t they just go away?”  
Closing her eyes didn’t help either. All she saw was a black and red cell, pulsating like a heart. Her mental image was that of a little girl. A man in a yellow coat was behind her. Someone with the mask of a respectful care giver, the face of charming man, but the empty soul of monster.  
The effects of the Beacon fused with the gas clawed up her darkest memories. Leere started to hyperventilate now. Some of the zombies picked up on it and started to look around more carefully now. Fear was sweet music to their ears, the bell to their next meal.  
The man in the yellow coat pulled Leere’s pants down. No one else was patrolling the block that night, and Leere had been put into confinement by the doctors for stabbing one with a needle while being forced into taking a shot.  
“Relax sweet heart. You’ll feel some momentary discomfort, but the pain will go away soon enough.”  
“No. No not again…” Leere gritted her teeth. He couldn’t hurt her anymore. He couldn’t hurt her anymore. She would not die because of her weakness. The Princess prayed to the Goddesses to help her, and, as she did, the minions of the Beacon were nearly upon her.  
“Give in. It’ll go easier.”  
“No. No I won’t.” Leere took a deep breath and focused on any light in her life. Letting go of her anxiety for a moment her thoughts went to later that night, when an angel with golden hair and clad in leather approached her.  
Zelda had been investigating the facility to uncover the rumor of budget cuts that harmed patients, when she discovered Leere alone in the corner of her cell. She knew from the report of Klinge that he had taken a little girl here after he killed her parents, two necromancers that had been terrorizing the countryside, for rehabilitation into society. Clearly, by the conditions of her isolation, this was a poor decision.  
Upon further inspection, the colour drained on Zelda’s face seeing the recent damage that had been done to Leere. Given what happened to herself, it pained Zelda to emphasize so heavily with the poor child. She drew closer to the bars. “My child, are you alright?”  
Leere barely looked up, but when she did, her eyes were empty, something taken from her soul. Zelda gently held the bars. “What’s your name?”  
Leere didn’t say anything, weary of the masked woman. Zelda smiled lightly, and very slowly, took off her mask. “It’s ok. I’m a friend.”  
The little girls eyes widened a little more. The woman was beautiful. And she felt a kindness radiate off her. Zelda used her light magic to unlocked the cell door. This startled Leere and she moved away. The Queen of Hyrule didn’t push her anxiety by entering.  
“My name is Zelda. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not even going to come in. I just want you to know you are safe around me child.”  
On her word Zelda didn’t move. Ten minutes passed with Leere just studying her in silence. The warmth on her face never went away. Leere found the courage to inch closer and speak. “….I’m Leere.”  
Zelda’s warm smile somehow glowed brighter upon the child’s words. “Hello Leere. It’s nice to meet you.”  
Leere looked up at her, holding her clothing close to herself, her arms guarding her body. “You…you won’t hurt me?”  
“No. I won’t” Zelda took breath to processes what she should do. This poor child needed her protection. She needed love. “If you’d let me, I’d like to help you Leere. I’d like to look after you.”  
Leere shifted as Zelda extended a hand. “I won’t force you Leere. But, if you can trust me, I’d like to give you a life worth living. We can be a family. You won’t have to be hurt ever again.”  
The Queen gave her a hopeful smile once more. Leere shook as she raised her arm, but the moment she took Zelda’s hand, the warmth from her made her softly sob. Zelda carefully positioned to hug her. “It’s ok Leere. I’m here for you now. I’ll help you get through anything.”  
The warm memory helped Leere disperse her fear for now, un-anchoring the madness that took root, if only for the moment. She opened her eyes and held absolutely motionless as the ravenous monsters searched nearby. With the noises they had been tracking having stopped, along with the air of hopelessness gone they had lost the trail. Angry they hissed and took off.  
Getting up Leere felt drawn to a point in the Divine Beast. Like the Beacon was mad it didn’t claim her. An anger boiled up inside her. That madman that attacked her actively was helping drive the madness of what was festering in this machine. It feed off the lives of so many innocents. No more.  
Now in the engine room she looked for a very specific piece. She found the console that controlled the arms of the Divine Beast. The Princess didn’t have a Shiekah Slate to control it, but that was fine. Looking at her royal pocket watch Leere estimated how much time she’d have until the Divine Beast would resurface. Two hours and nineteen minutes. Not too long in the grand scheme of things, but enough to do what she needed to do. Taking a breath she reached deep into her magic side bag and took out the instrument of her finale. A Powder Keg. It was as big as her body with a skull on the front and had the choice of a long fuse or a crank like a kitchen timer. Leere roped the fuse around the gears to hold the bomb in place. She’d have to thank Rinku for teaching her the technique of bottomless pockets, not even beginning to imagine how she’d travel with all her tools without it.  
Walking to the timer she hesitated. The Divine Beast was a marvelous colossus of ancient technology, able to power a great deal of energy. People had come here to learn from it. To make great use of knowledge and use it for the betterment of man kind. Carlos had been so happy to come here….  
~  
Leere brushed away at the markings on the wall. The old well uncovered under Kakariko Village held old ancient texts and secrets. After two weeks of excavation Leere and her team dug out most of the well. One of her partners, and the lead archeologist, a flirty man named Carlos, jumped around the corner with a skull. “BOO!”  
Leere flinched, but only from how close he got. Carlos frowned at the lack of a scream. “Not even a peep?”  
“Nope. Where’d you get that anyways numb skull.”  
“Found a crypt full of dead bodies.”  
Leere scowled. “Don’t tell me you-“  
“Relax. This is one of the many skulls that just littered the floor. Like I’d play with a buried body.” Carlos lead the way as Leere followed behind. “Although its strange to finds tombs in such a horrible place.”  
The Princess of Hyrule nodded. It became more and more clear digging deeper that this was once a prison complex, or more specifically used for torture. The Ancient Shiekah protected Hyrule to the death, and would use any means to stay one step ahead of its enemies. More terrifying was evidence that terrible spirits had been long ago imprisoned in the deepest parts of the compound. Luckily for Leere and the crew the most she had to deal with were a few cursed Skulltula’s that remained, the more dangerous spirits having been long gone.  
Entering the crypt Leere took a look around. The excavation had revealed ancient metal coffins lined up one by one, with old preserved skulls stuck together, forming the walls around them. For Leere she was here to uncover ancient techniques and seek more knowledge about life and death itself. For Carlos it was the Shiekah themselves. His studies brought him to learn and document all the lost history of the Shiekah and Yiga clans he could.   
The young man didn’t care if his dark skin stained with dirt and grim as he excavated his way through. The few undead were alarming, sure, but that was what he had a chick like Leere with him for. Being the lead archeologist, Carlos was hell bent on finding more to this prison that was right under his home village!  
Smiling, Carlos carefully opened up one of the coffins. His smile only grew at what he saw. An old prisoner bound in bandages and chains, an upside Shiekah mask, the symbol of the Yiga and traitors, bound to the dead’s face, more or less fussed to the skull.  
“Look! Look at this Leere! You can see here how much pain the Shiekah inflicted upon their darker brothers.” Carlos took a piece of the wrapping and examined it. “They started the process of mummification while they were alive. This must have been done for the worst of criminals.”  
Leere raised an eyebrow at the body. “Sure the Shiekah weren’t the dark ones?”  
Carlos laughed her off, ignoring her ignorance. “Not at all. The Shiekah merely did what they had to in order to keep peace. The Yiga were the ones who served Ganon. Information would have been taken by any means to bring stability. It’s quite interesting, isn’t it?”  
Leere shrugged generously at the man. “Whatever you say. I’m curious how they held the much darker forces in this well. That kind of containment would be priceless for our forces. The last thing I want is us not able to contain some darkness against us again.”  
“Yeah. Especially with that invasion not too long ago. Could have used some kind of magic on those dark fishes without needing to rely on the Mirror of Twilight.”  
Leere felt awful when she wasn’t in Hyrule’s borders to help contain the threat that challenged her family and destroyed her land. She’d do anything to acquire information to protect her land.  
The Princess scanned hieroglyphs and doted down information in her journal. That was when suddenly a messenger came in. “Doctor Carlos! You have a message!”  
Carlos glared up from examining the body. “I’m at the biggest find of the century of Shiekah research. What could you possibly want?”  
She gleamed ear to ear, like Carlos couldn’t have said anything more incorrect. “It’s amazing how much I’m going to prove you wrong. Doctor Ichabod has discovered his find.”  
Carlos paused. Ichabod? But that would mean….His face turned pale from shock. Leere turned to him, a little curious and worried for her friend. “Carlos?”  
“That’s….impossible.”  
The messenger shook her head grinning like a child on the holidays. “Nope.”  
“…Noooooo.” A small amount of joy hit Carlos. Now Leere had to know.  
“What is it?”  
The messenger handed Carlos a scroll containing sketches and initial reports. Carlos became ecstatic reading it over. “They want ME to accompany the research team?”  
“Yep!”  
“What. Is. It?”  
Carlos snapped back to reality when Leere loomed over him. He pointed at what looked like a turtle’s head. “You are looking at a Divine Beast Leere. The greatest source of technology ever made by the Shiekah and ancient Hylians.”  
“What does it do?”  
“They can channel a tremendous amount of power, the kind that could level a city. A marvel of mechanical and spiritual energy. This was because they were made with the Guardians to destroy Ganon. You could fit an entire colony in them with how much space their was. This one looks like it was used as an under water fortress! Just spectacular!”  
Leere was happy how excited he was getting over this. “I suppose you’ll be leaving then?”  
“Yeah! I need to be going right away! The studying of this is going to take years! Imagine all the projects we could get off the ground with this energy! The achievements we will make alone will be legendary we’ll be-“ Carlos realized Leere wanted a goodbye, the pale Princess raising a brow at his enthusiasm. “Yeah. I suppose this will be goodbye?”  
“I suppose it will be. You’ll let me know how your research goes?”  
“I will.” Carlos blushed a bit at how much Leere wanted to keep up with his work. If only she wasn’t gay. “You’ll take care of things here?”  
“Of course. Things will be wrapped up here before you arrive at your mystic turtle.”  
“Heh. Thanks Leere.” He offered a handshake, which Leere gladly took.  
“Now get going. Before they leave you.”  
Carlos smiled and grabbed his bags. “Stay wise Leere.”  
“You too Carlos. Be safe.”  
Carlos made a joke that, in time, he’d regret. “Well, shit happens right?”  
As he left with a wink, Leere returned to examine a hieroglyph of a demon with two hands and a single eye. Apparently it had been one of many spirits that used to be sealed inside. “Now than, how exactly did you gain your chains.”  
~  
Carlos had come here with an enthusiasm that was kind and endearing. When she saw him he had been tainted by this place. The death of innocence could be more cruel at times than the death of life at times. The suffering everyone met here reeked the halls of the Divine Beast, including Carlos. This suffering mocked Leere herself and everyone else.  
Whatever he had wanted here was gone, taken by the insanity that called to her even now. Leere made her choice. Turning the switch she started the countdown to destroy the Divine Beast. “Yeah. Shit happens.”  
Enthralled with wrath Leere turned around with an rejuvenated determination. She’d see to finding Carlos, and escape to see all these monsters destroyed. Let them feel an emptiness before they died.


	5. Source of Madness

“Ichabod…Ichabod….Ichabod………”  
The mind was a clouded mindscape, memories being twisted and pulled. An angel. An angel was speaking out to him. Remember. He had to remember.  
Opening his eyes slowly the voice had a charm to it now. “Oh Ichabod, do you need some extra motivation to wake up?”  
On top of his waist was a gorgeous, just absolutely stunning pale, but vibrant woman with red hair. Her lips could make him melt at just a touch. His hands caressed her sides as he smiled up at her. “Morning Diana.”  
“Morning sunshine~” She leaned down to kiss him, her breasts pushing nicely onto his chest. Ichabod played with her hair as they kissed each other passionately.  
“What are you still doing here? Don’t you have a concert today?”  
“Yeah, doesn’t mean I can’t spend one hour of my morning with my sweet little Doctor~”  
Ichabod smiled warmly and kissed her gently. “I’m glad an angel like you fell for a nerd like me.”  
Diana couldn’t help but laugh. “Angel? If anyone’s a guardian, its you Ichabod. You’re the one who helped put me back together.” She gently rubbed his chest with her fingers, getting a coo out of him. “My sweet, sweet little Ichabod. I might be a singer, but you’re the one who has a way with words.”  
She started to kiss down his chest now, towards his crotch. “Now how about I give you a little morning gift~”  
Ichabod chuckled a bit. “Sure that won’t just knock me back to sleep?”  
“Then you better be a good boy and stay up for me~”  
Sparks of pleasure went through Ichabod’s mind as something came undone in a reverse spiral of emotion. The clouds of his brain spiraled out and around. New images came together like a puzzle.  
“DOCTOR! COME TAKE A LOOK!!!”  
Ichabod was jolted from his desk, going over the excavation notes he had made for his latest project. The Royal Courts had given the honour to him personally of conducting research into ancient relics and magic that could help Hyrule grow as a Kingdom and enrich its knowledge and power. Digging through books he read the story of the Divine Beasts, mechanical colossal animal-like creations that were used to combat the threat of Ganon. That took a great amount of mechanical and spiritual energy, energy that could be used as a power conduit for marvelous inventions. In the books were clues that suggested possible locations for the Divine Beasts.  
Getting up he ran with the man that called him out to the bridge of the ship. Out on the waves the head of a massive turtle surfaced. They had traveled over a few days out to sea on the gamble of a rumor in a book, but here it was. “It’s beautiful. Get the crew ready to board it right away!”  
“Doctor, so soon?”  
“Yes, I want a team to secure it immediately. Afterwards we’ll return to shore with the news of our discovery.”  
The memory of joy rolled out into celebration, images overlapping each other like a roll of film. Vision was blurred by the melody of the angels.  
Diana was rocking out on stage, a group of fans cheering for her. The drums and guitar gave her a steady beat as she sang to her fans, her voice carrying everyone’s spirits upwards. The concert finished with explosive fire. “THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!”  
Ichabod waited as she walked off the stage to the back room. Diana was geared out in a hellish outfit, her hair wild and shot out everywhere. Her makeup topped off the badass punk rocker look. She was unique, her own human being, and Ichabod loved every second of it. Seeing Ichabod she was ecstatic. “You came to my concert babe?! God I love you!”  
“Of course I did!” Embracing her they kiss passionately. “Diana, my research was a success! I discovered the Divine Beast Rata Sal! I can start applying my skills for the betterment of Hyrule!”  
“That’s great Ichabod!” After the excitement a wave of melancholy hit them. “This means you’re leaving aren’t you…”  
“For at least a year.”  
Diana wasn’t aware of how long he’d be gone. “W-wait, a year? But what about us? You can make my big concert at the castle can’t you? It’s only three weeks away!”  
Ichabod’s eyes went downcast. “I can’t. Once I leave I’ll be needed with the colony that we are taking to conduct research. It’s far away and out to see.”  
The fragility of Diana’s mind started to slip once more. “B-but I need you! I need you with me!”  
Ichabod held her steady. “How long is your tour?”  
“Six months.”  
“Then I need you to stay strong for me for six months Diana. Not even a year, and once you are done, you can come join me.”  
‘No. That’s too long, you can’t live without him.’  
Diana gripped her head when her demons poked at her. “She-she’s talking to me again.”  
Ichabod grew concerned. Going to her carriage, he pulled out a large bottle of pills. “Remember the treatments I first gave you? When I’m gone, when you miss me, I want you to think of me. Then take one pill a day. I promise you that you have the strength to get through without me by your side.”  
“You do?”  
“I do Diana. I love you.”  
They shared one more kiss, and the memories grew loud with static and tearing. The happiness was twisted like a spiral. It suddenly unbecame still and silent, like the moment before as a bomb fell from the sky to the ground.  
Ichabod was going over the Divine Beasts main power converter. Beside him was Doctor Carlos, the lead in Shiekah research. The man had done well to decipher ancient texts and get additional systems running. “I have a theory Doctor Carlos.”  
“Yes Doctor Ichabod?”  
Ichabod pointed to a point. “Right here. Right here we could place a device to covert the energy of the Divine Beast’s reactor into usable magic.”  
“What do you have in mind?” Carlos was intrigued by this idea.  
“Simple. In ancient cultures tribes have used Obelisks to enhance magic, even channeling it, no, amplifying the magic thousand fold to produce untold possibilities. Imagine what we could do with the energy here if we focused it, refined it!”  
Carlos was blown away by this thinking. “I’ll go down to the engine room and see if I could begin calibrations for such an effort.”  
Ichabod nodded. The next few days he was trying to think what project he should begin first. A knock came to his office. Answering the door was an old friend from the mainland, a Pink Rito man. He wore a face of pity.  
“Hello Icky. Can I come in?”  
“Of course Beck.” Sitting down concern filled Ichabod. “What brings you here?”  
Beck sighed as he rested his feathers on the desk. “I came to tell you right away, knowing the news might not have reached you otherwise.”  
“Beck?”  
The Feathered man looked to Ichabod with sadness. “Diana is dead Ichabod.”  
The news stabs into him like a butchers knife, cutting apart his soul.  
“…What?”  
“Diana had an overdose, on the prescription you gave her.”  
“No. That’s-No!”  
“I think she had one of her panic attacks, and took too many of the pills. I know how her split personality plagued her.”  
“No. No, no, no, no, no!” Ichabod pulled at his hair in distress. He killed her. He left her to her own mind and to die. “NO!!!”  
Beck put an autopsy on his desk. “This is the documentation of her death. I performed the autopsy myself. I’m so sorry Ichabod.”  
Ichabod’s eye twitched and he slammed his hands on the desk and threw everything off it in a fit of rage. “God damn it NO! NOOOOO!”  
Beck looked down on his old college with immense pity and sorrow. “I’ll take good care of her Ichabod. I promise.”  
“No. Diana. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”  
Hisses and cries filled Ichabod’s mind, waves of torment washing over him as the memories lost traction. As they started to become more and more broken, so did Ichabod.  
The Doctor had looked into the cultures of different gods. The Lorliedians, Hylians, or even smaller tribes. He prayed to the gods, and even cursed them. He had been seen once crying and screaming to the Goddess of Death, Zarazu, to bring back his beloved. A few months passed and his Obelisk was complete.  
He had to see Diana again. If not to bring her back then to apologize. That was when he brought up an idea to his crewmen. “This Divine Beast is called ‘divine’ for a reason. In it channels energies that the gods themselves gave us.”  
A few of the higher ups of the colony looked to each other doubtfully. “Doctor Ichabod, are you sure?”  
“Yes! What else could combat the horror’s of Calamity Ganon but the Holy Goddess herself? We have her energy at our finger tips. A literal connection with her.” Ichabod leans in, hopeful they’ll be hooked. “How glorious would it be if we could meet our Gods.”  
That took the attention of everyone in the room. A Lorliedian man narrowed his eyes. “Go on…”  
“Imagine if we could speak to our gods, learn how to fight back against certain evils. Imagine if we knew the meaning behind the gifts they gave us. Imagine, if we could see loved ones just one more time, to know that they are at rest. The power we could gain would be a benefit for all of humanity. Evil could be eradicated with the power of Heaven at our finger tips.”  
The council he gathered were taken aback by his proposal. “Doctor Ichabod, what you suggest might be seen as sacrilege.”  
“Is it? Isn’t magic considered sacrilege by some? Wouldn’t some viewing Zelda and Zarazu as gods reincarnate blasphemy? No. Our pursuit would be noble and just to justify this work. It would be the final level of magical research. I guarantee you all of it would be worth it.”  
“How….how would we even make this possible?”  
“With the Obelisk we are creating. We’d transform it into a Beacon. Something for us to link to Heaven, and it to us. Amplifying the energy of the Divine Beast I’m sure we could open a portal to Heaven, in theory.”  
“That’s very bold Doctor Ichabod.”  
“I know. Now if anyone else has any ideas to use the Divine Beast, who’d like to join me?”  
Their curiosities for the unknown won enough over to greenlight the project, the Beacon to Heaven. Another memory came to him. It was subtle, but it was like a scratch. Picking away at something to come.  
Ichabod was peering into the Beacon, using his magics and sciences to try and decipher the concept of an alternate reality. Perhaps the souls of those who passed went there. Or perhaps Heaven was on another Dimension of this World. Unseen to the mortal eye. The frequencies of the Beacon switched and turned until he heard it. A whisper in the back of his mind.  
“Ich….a……bod…..”  
Doctor Ichabod’s eyes were wide and tired, but his energy had spiked him awake. “D-Diana?”  
“Icha….bod.”  
“Who is that? Who’s there?”  
The voice scooped his mind. Such discord inside. But such promise.  
“Ichabod. I am God.”  
The voice was much more clear now. It was soothing, and gentle.  
“W-what?!”  
“Ichabod…my child. You seek me out?”  
“Y-Yes! Please! Is Diana with you?!”  
“….I am sorry. The connection is growing weak.”  
Ichabod looked to the Beacon. Quickly, he applied magic to stay on the current single.  
“Please! Don’t go! Am I close to Heaven?!”  
“Yes….you are.”  
He did it. He actually did it!  
“God, let me focus the Beacon! I promise it will strengthen are signal!”  
The voice did not respond. Ichabod quickly went to work, and started to slowly open the hole between the dimensions.  
On the Divine Beast crew members over the next couple days experience anomalies. It started small, but gradually grew bigger. Whispers of eerie voices filled the waking days of isolated members. A man saw eyes peer at him from around a corner for split moment only to disappear. A woman thought she heard her miscarriage cry for her. An engineer felt something breath down his neck in the dark only to have nothing behind him.  
Paranoia grew fast around the Divine Beast. An unease that couldn’t be shaken was about to fully consume them. Ichabod worked with no sleep on advancing the Marker, when he heard them again.  
“Ichabod.”  
“Y-yes!?” Ichabod’s eyes were blood shot and darting around.  
“We need your assistance Ichabod. You are surrounded by sinners. They’re aura blocks our entrance.”  
“What?” Ichabod’s mind raced. Of course. There were those that doubted him, said that ever since his project had started a bad omen had come with it. They were jealous, wanted to stop him from reaching heaven. From seeing his Diana. “What can I do?”  
“You must slay a sinner for us Ichabod. To slay even one would give us an opening to send an angel of heaven down. Will you do this Ichabod….Diana waits for you.”  
Ichabod’s eyes grew dark as his voice went low. “Yes. Of course. I will do what I must to achieve Heaven God.”  
Ichabod waited until the time was right. Outside his door a woman walked by. Her ugliness in her soul could never compare to his Diana. Of course she was a sinner, they all were. “Excuse me, I need to speak with you immediately.”  
The woman was puzzled. “Yes Doctor Ichabod? What is it?”  
“I need an opinion. Please, this way.”  
The woman followed her superior. “What do you ne-“ Her eyes widened when she saw the Beacon. “Doctor Ichabod, why is the Beacon-“  
“Beautiful? I know. It shines like, well, a Beacon of Hope.” He said in a giggle.  
The woman grew nervous at the air in the room, and a sense of danger that came off Ichabod. “Sir, I think I should go.”  
“No.” Ichabod gave her a spray, paralysing her body. “No you will not.”  
She tried to run away, but couldn’t. As tears of fear filled her eyes, Ichabod drew scalpel and plunged the small tool into her neck. Aggressively he pulled it out, and keep stabbing her over and over again. With fury he kept stabbing as he ripped her jugular apart. Panting, Ichabod feel back. The Beacon blinked like a candle, and her body twitched with more fluid motion.  
Ichabod rose again to stab it again, but stopped. “Oh….I didn’t realize how beautiful you could be.”  
Dropping the scalpel he looked upon the beautiful woman before him. In his eyes she shone with a holy light. In reality, she was a nightmarish horror, her flesh peeling back on her skull, and sharp razor claws forming. It would be easy enough to kill this puppet now, but he may have further use.  
The Angel smiled at him. “God is pleased Ichabod. You have given us enough space to come through. Now the angels will cleanse this ship of sinners with your help Ichabod. Thank you.”  
“I will do all I can to strengthen the signal to heaven!”  
“We know you will Ichabod.”  
The ‘angel’ ran out the room. The first scream took place only ten minutes later. Ichabod looked up to the Beacon. “I can see Heaven. I am so close.”  
Behind his vision, his heaven pulsated with darkness and flesh. Nightmares that had only been discovered by fluke, hissed and grew excited. The smallest forms could break through into this new dimension, but given time, they would all be free.  
Ichabod’s memories fluttered and swirled, until his concentration was broken again. “Ichabod. The intruder seeks to destroy all we have created. Why have you not delivered her soul to Hell?”  
“I am trying. I know we are close. Were is she? Were is my Diana?”  
“She is one of millions amongst us. Only by breaking the barrier between us can you see her.”  
“Understood. I will seek her out and destroy the intruder for good.” Ichabod twitched as he moved with intent to ride the red eyed demon from his home.  
~  
Leere kept walking down the halls of the Divine Beast when she heard the growls of the creatures before her. She was tired of this bullshit. All of it. That was when she also heard a gun shot. “Carlos!”  
Running she saw him in what looked like a cafeteria. And dozens of the monsters closing in on him. Leere summoned a few Dead Hands to thrash away the ones closest to him. Putting a hand on her lips she gave a whistle. “COME AND GET IT!!!”  
The monsters hissed and screamed as they ran to her, twitching limbs desiring her flesh and death. Activating her scythe Leere made a twirl, and spun her blade around her like a tornado, cutting open the waists of multiple foes who surrounded her. As she went cutting them apart she summoned everything she could, ranging from Wall Masters falling from the ceiling to take away victims to the shadows, or a flurry of keese to swarm and feed.  
Carlos was terrified as he heard the voices of his sister from one of the monsters mimicking his loved ones.  
“Stay still Carlos. It will only take a second.”  
“N-NO! NO, NO, NO!!!”  
Leere stretched a hand out, focusing her magic. These were the dead. Nothing but flesh being manipulated by a force controlling them. They had no souls that protected them. Their will against hers. And she’d be damned if she was going to face defeat to some faceless entity and lose her friend! Squeezing her fist the skull of the monster caved in, its brain matter turning into pulp as its entire face imploded.  
Carlos yelped as the blood hit him and barely avoided its claw. Leere wasn’t done, cutting down the others, using her undead to protect her flanks. Faster, she had to go faster! With almost blind, yet calculated rage, her scythe kept slicing apart the flesh of the monsters that came at her in waves.  
Ducking, she avoid a claw swipe of a very large creature, and cut off its legs. It hissed and moaned until she brought her foot down on its head, curb stomping its skull in. With all this bodies she raised them to fight a new wave of attackers that burst through the doors. Her mind was racing, throbbing with a red haze of bloodlust.  
“RAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!” A bloody war cry escaped her as she hacked apart the monsters that came too close. One of them clawed her wrist, drawing blood, and making the Princess drop her scythe. Leere didn’t pay attention as she drew her knife, quickly slashing its neck open. With more fury she stabbed into its heart over and over and over, until a part of her arm was penetrating the monstrosity.  
Soon the screams and roars ended, just the sounds of her Redeads eating corpses and her tiredly stabbing into the flesh of her last kill. Leere finally stopped stabbing and looked to Carlos. When he saw her, he was terrified. “No. K-keep back!”  
Leere took a look at herself and sighed. Grabbing a hanker chef from her pocket she wiped the blood off her hands and face. “Carlos. Please. It’s me. Your friend.”  
He takes deep breaths trying to remember. He looked and studied her beautiful pale face. Her red eyes didn’t terrify him, instead having the beauty of rubies. “Leere. You’re Leere Dragmire.”  
“Yes. That’s good. That’s really good. I’m glad you’re alive still Carlos.”  
His nerves shot up. “Leere. We need to destroy the Beacon!”  
He tried to run again, but Leere was not going to have that, holding him down. “Calm down, will you? I’ve already got a plan.”  
“What?”  
“I’m going to blow up the engine room, sinking this damn thing.”  
Carlos’ eyes darted around, thinking on that. “No….it won’t confirm it. It won’t confirm that we succeeded in time. We have to destroy the source now!”  
“Carlos, we don’t have time to-“  
“I’m not leaving until I know for certain that this evil won’t get out!!!”  
He was hellbent on seeing this to the end. Leere knew he would die if she didn’t agree to go with him. “Fine! God damn you Carlos. But you aren’t going alone, and whatever you do, you aren’t leaving my side, got it!?”  
Carlos only nodded to comply. Leere took his hand and led him past the bodies. “Now lets go.”  
“You know the layout to the Beacon?”  
“I can feel it luring me in.”  
They both agreed on that statement, like a fish with its mouth caught on a barb.  
The lights flickered a dark red tone as they got closer to their final destination. Leere tried to get the door open when a large thud came behind her.  
Looking back she saw a massive humanoid creature. Its legs were like tree trunks, with bladed arms and an alien like head, with six glowing eyes. Its chest a deep but slow thump as it breathed. As it walked toward them it had an air of menace that made Leere’s stomach churn.  
Carlos drew his pistol and fired at it. His shot hit it in one of the eyes. The abomination didn’t make a sound as blood and puss gushed out. It took a moment, but its wound then started to regenerate. Leere’s patience grew thing. Using her Dead Hands she had the door pried open. “GO CARLOS! INSIDE!”  
Carlos didn’t waste time. With a quick roll he dived in. Leere shot a wall master at her approaching attacker to slow him down. The abomination simply cut apart the flying hand with both its blade arms. However, it gave Leere enough time to dive in. As soon as she was, her Dead Hands gave way, and the door shut behind her, the sound of flesh and blood exploding as a few of the hands got caught in the doorway.  
Getting up Leere’s eyes stopped dead in their tracks. She found herself in a large spherical room. The room was warm, like a beating heart. It had a few balconies and ladders around the outside for different levels of observation, but in the center was a large red obelisk with black markings akin to veins. It had a glow that kept going upwards on it in waves.  
Her eyes followed it to see what she could only call a tear in space. Her brain was wracked with pain as she tried to comprehend what was inside. This was it. The source of the insanity. This close she felt it calling for her more then ever now.  
“Time for you to be silenced.”


	6. A Melancholy Sunset

Leere took a deep breath. This was it. The source of all the suffering here. The crack in space above her wracked at her mind. Being this close she also felt the effects of the Beacon more than ever. Taking a step forward she drew her scythe. If she got lucky, damaging the physical structure would be good enough to unbalance the flow of magic coursing through it. Perhaps in even an implosion, but more likely a detonation.  
Taking a step forward a wave shot from the Beacon, hitting her and Carlos. Her headache turned into a stabbing pain, and they heard a hiss of wrath come from the tear. “DO NOT INTERFERE!”  
Leere glared as her vision became blurred. “No! I will NOT fail here!”  
Standing up she readied her weapon, when a shot ran out, the bolt of a crossbow hitting her in the head. The Princess well backwards onto the floor bleeding. Ichabod smiled from ear to ear as his mark went down. “Fall Demon! FALL!!!”  
Carlos screamed in anger at her being shot. Retaliating he fired at Ichabod with his flintlock gun. The mad scientist gasped as the bullet ran through his chest. Stepping back his eyes fluttered as he felt the bullet hole. “N-No. Not yet.”  
Ichabod activated a button on a console close to him. Carlos ran to check on Leere, the Beacon shouting at his mind with incoherent speech. It all hurt so much, but he wanted to make sure Leere was ok. “Please. Please, please, please be alive!”  
Leere’s eyes opened slowly. Blood was dripping down her face from the bolt hitting her skin. “What? Carlos?”  
“Yes. W-we need to get up Leere.”  
Her vision was blurry, but she could make a shape coming up behind Carlos. “Carlos! L-look-“  
But it was too late, his body was pulled back violently as his guts fell onto Leere’s chest. Carlos gurgled blood and words as the abomination loomed over him. “Goodbye Carlos.”  
Multiple voices echoed as the Beacon used the Abomination as a source for the sound, mimicking all of Carlos’ loved ones. Carlos reached out for Leere as he was torn apart by the bladed arms. His head was sliced in half like a melon, brain matter spreading out on the floor. Leere crawled away in absolute disbelief and fear of her friend being massacred. She was all alone now.  
“C-CARLOOOOOOOS!!!!”  
The abomination stepped over his victim and silently did a slow, but firm power walk towards Leere. The crack in space sparked, and with a quick implosion of sound, fiery discord exploded outwards. Her surrounding swirled with chaos and madness around her. Pieces of metal too close to the rift started to fly into it. Her own clothes took a breeze, fluttering to the rift.  
Ichabod smiled with blood now trickling out his mouth. “Heaven is upon us! Heaven! Is! Here!!!”  
Leere rose to her feet and looked inside the rift. Her eyes had images that her brain desperately tried to process but couldn’t fully. She might have gone mad right there if she wasn’t already formed by years of horror. What she made out were things crawling outwards. Massive, colossal spirits.  
Looking down she saw the abomination move to swing downwards at her. Snapping back to what little reality she had, Leere jumped backwards. The monster took its blade arm out of the floor and clashed both its limbs in a sharpening motion. Leere summoned a Redead to try and grasp it, but it just cut it apart with a motion downwards on the undead’s torso.   
Not giving up Leere rose up to active her scythe. The Shiekah energy blade cut open the flesh of her attacker, but the Abomination kept moving forward, its skin reforming almost instantly. Its knee cap was cut apart with a quick twirl, but that was all it would let Leere accomplish. With a furious display of motion it cut down on her hilt, and using great force, cut her scythe in two. Leere couldn’t stop herself from having chest sliced open.  
Falling backwards she felt her mortality slipping. The abomination towered over, crushing the hilt into paste under its foot. Taking her blood Leere wrote symbol into the floor. “Well. Come and finish me you ugly motherfucker.  
The abomination obliged, thrusting an arm to penetrate her. Leere mustered her strength and rolled to the side. Taking some of her own blood she threw it at the monster just as it stabbed her pentagram. Leere took a breath, and began her blood magic.  
Making large hand motions both the pentagram and the blood on the target glowed. It stepped towards her, but stopped when she made a gripping motion at it. With wrath in her eyes, Leere slowly squeezed her fists. With her blood connection she now had total control of its flesh to toy with as she wished.  
Its bones shattered and blood vessels exploded inside it. The abomination shook and shuddered as its eyes exploded into a pile of puss. Leere didn’t stop there. Bring both hands together the monster squished into a ball, more bones breaking and blood leaking out. Fury brought her hands together, squishing it on itself, a large pile of blood pouring out onto the floor under it. She twisted her hands side to side, snapping what was left into more pieces, but finally shaping it into a spear of sharp flesh and bone. With a scream, Leere took her new pile of flesh, and chucked it hard into the Beacon.  
Ichabod couldn’t believe what he was seeing. This damned devil woman was killing his angel! How!? How was she able to defy God?! When she threw the angel at the Beacon time stopped for him. All his work. All his progress for Diana. Why couldn’t he stop her!?  
The sounds of madness scream and clawed at Leere to stop. Threats of death. Promises for a better life. She didn’t care. With a gleam of justice on her face, she made her mark. The Beacon cracked. And wails of insanity went through the Divine Beast as every possessed being felt there connection shattering.  
“No! NoOoOoOoOoO!!!”  
The demons screamed, so close to entering the new dimension for conquering. If they could not enter, then they’d take their saboteur with them to hell. All the remaining creatures ran to the Beacon as it started to break apart.  
Leere looked to Carlos’ corpse. “I ended it. Like you wanted.”  
Looking up she saw Ichabod on a balcony above her. Her rage ignited once more as she ran towards him. Ichabod became instantly terrified by her, this bloodied woman chasing after him. He looked once more as the Beacon took one more piece of energy, then detonated. The shards exploded all over, his dreams scattering with them. The crack in space imploded, and vanished, as if nothing had occurred. He had to rebuild.  
Turning around he opened the door to escape. He didn’t get far when he felt his spine get torn into by Leere. She dug her knife as far as she could into his back. Pulling out she stabbed into him once more, this time in the shoulder, tearing his muscle apart. Ichabod elbowed her back in the face with his good arm, and desperately swiped at her with his bladed claw tool. “STAY BACK!!!”  
Leere moved around his strikes, her movements keeping her one step ahead of him at all times. She didn’t need magic to finish off this disgusting piece of shit. It was more than simple to use a knife to cut his mortal coil from this earth. Ichabod made tried to throw some chemical gas at her again, but Leere caught his hand, and stabbed through his palm.  
Ichabod cried out in terror and pain. “No! I can’t die yet! I need bring Diana here! I need-“  
Leere cut him off with a stab to the chest, pushing him against a wall. Ichabod gasped as his lungs filled with blood. “N-no-“  
Leere pulled out, and a twitch in her eye, she thrust her knife into him again. And again. And again! And again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again!!! On her final slash she cut open his throat. Ichabod’s eyes rolled back as all the pain brought him peace, if only for a moment. Collapsing, Ichabod shook and spasmed. Diana. He wanted his Diana.  
Leere ended his life with one more stab to the brain, silencing all his thoughts. Her hands trembled as her whole body was soaked in blood. With this man dead no one would ever replicate what happened here.  
Tick. Tick. Tick. Ding.  
Her thoughts were then cut off by a massive explosion.  
Looking at her pocket watch, Leere could only smile at fate. “Of course its been two hours….”  
Dragging her feet forward to move, Leere felt the Divine Beast shake as hot volcanic water started to cleanse the filth that contaminated it. Her powder keg had blasted apart the engine room, enough to bust a hole into the massive colossus. She made her way to the welcome centre where all this first started for her. She saw the neck had strained itself upwards. Mustering her strength she walked the hallway. The one guard that had been stationed at the end of course died. Why couldn’t at least someone else made it out.  
Turning around she saw the water start to rise, the screams of all the remaining reanimated crew making a choir of pain and suffering. She opened the final door to see the boat waiting. There was of course bad news attached to her not being stranded. Some of the creatures were trying to get on board. The Captain and the men were doing their best to keep them away.  
With no emotion Leere raised a hand, summoning her Dead Hands one final time to grab all the remaining creatures, and pull them screaming into the boiling water below. Leere reached for a rope that the Captain threw her. Getting up onto the deck one of the crew men visibly jolted seeing her. An emptiness was in her eyes, and her body was covered in blood and guts. Her pale skin stained by the very vile and evil she experienced, patches of red encrusted deeply.  
The Captain motioned for the crew to move out. The boat chugged and pushed out of the mouth. He turned to her cautiously. “Princess Leere….what happened?”  
Leere didn’t give an answer. She looked onward as the Divine Beast sunk beneath the waves one last time. Its massive head shone in the sunset as it fell deeper and deeper, until finally it was gone from sight.  
Carlos had been so happy to come here. All of the people that died here must have, even Ichabod at some point. Did all their souls find peace?  
“Mamm….what did you see down there?”  
“…..Something I’d give anything to unsee.”  
Leere’s silhouette cast over the ship as she watched the sunset settle. An orange light cast above the waters, the darkness beneath the waves silent and foreboding. The colour also had purple hues. To be honest it was quite the sight. And all though the last of sunlight brought her warmth she did not feel it. In fact, she felt nothing at the moment. Nothing but an lonely emptiness at the bitter victory of living.


	7. Epilogue

Leere watched the sun set with empty emotion as the sun finished setting on the ocean. The rest of the crew gave her plenty of space. As the night came her adrenaline finally started to die down. She felt the weight of her wounds to her body…and her soul. Sharp pain came from her hands and back. The moon came up showering her in a new glow.  
Looking at her hands she saw how her nails had turned a dark black and blood leaked from her finger tips. She didn’t need to see it, but she knew that her tattoo on her back had begun to leak as well. But finally, worse of all, she didn’t care.  
Necromancy was different than Blood Magic. With Necromancy all she had to do to manipulate a body was make sure it had no living soul. The soul provides protection, a field of life. Without it creatures become nothing more then bone and flesh. Blood Magic took sacrifice to utterly dominate flesh, to push past the safeguard of a soul.  
Her own blood had to be used, for one, but she also had to give up a part of her soul. It wouldn’t have been as bad if she was calm when employing it, but she rushed its use, and was consumed by anger at the time. The effects always made her feel numb emotionally. Physically it made her pale skin even more so white and her hair darker. And finally, it brought the princess closer to whispers of the dead, usually the damned. The soul could recover with time and rest, but her mind was another story. It opened her up much more to her own inner demons, unbearable guilt hitting her. The alternative was giving up her empathy and care.  
So many dead wracked Leere. How many had perished? She couldn’t even save her own friend. Why did she live? Why did someone like her have to survive? Carlos shouldn’t have had to die like that. He was so scared, alone, and she failed him. She was a monster compared to a sweet soul like Carlos.  
Leere wanted to cry, but couldn’t. She knew this process by now. If she lived through the numbness, the emotion would crash into her later. She had to get back home before that happened. If she wasn’t near family…..No. Better not to think about that.  
Looking one last time at the moonlit ocean she frowned. She only hoped every soul could at least find purgatory after the suffering they attained in death. “I’m sorry Carlos. If you are watching down on me….forgive me.”  
~  
Leere rode out back to Hyrule in silence for the rest of her trip. No one dared talk to her. On a sail boat she couldn’t even have a shower, having to settle with using dry towels to clean herself. Leere scrubbed and scrubbed, only getting rid of surface level guts and blood. The stench stuck to her, and the blood stained her pale skin. It was unhealthily white, so the patches of blood stuck out.  
Getting off the boat she traveled the rest of the way on horseback. It was easy enough to flash a bag of rupees. No one argued with the walking blood soaked woman. A whole day of slow travel she finally arrived at Hyrule castle. One guard wasn’t sure who the hooded character that was approaching.  
“Halt. I need some identif-“  
He halted when he saw the look Leere gave him, not only recognizing her, but realizing that something was horribly off. Examining her further he almost gagged in horror.  
“P-Princess Leere. Do you need-“  
“No. Move aside.”  
Leere continued onwards to the palace. Her limbs were sore from the lack of magical treatments. Getting off her horse she avoided the blue dragon that sniffed at her. All she wanted to do was get inside and not be harassed. “Hmmm, you smell terrible….”  
“Ba’Puu was it? Please do not tell my family that I am here. I am not presentable.” Getting off the horse had opened up some of her wounds. Blood leaked down her arm and onto the ground. Ba’Puu wasn’t sure if he should force the tiny human to seek help, or even stop her from entering. She reeked of death.  
“….Very well. I’d advise you seek help though.”  
Leere was thankful she wasn’t stopped by him. Entering through the doors she kept walking forward, quickly avoiding family members. Her dark cloak kept her covered as she continued down the halls. All she wanted was to be alone.  
The sound of clicking got her attention behind her. She whipped her head to the corner of the hall. Did she movement? Was it her imagination? The clicking happened again above her. Instead of looking she ran the rest of the way to her room. Entering she locked the door and panted. A bath. She needed a bath.  
Why was it at the end she felt her weakest. Dragging her feet she entered her bathroom. She took one look at her reflection and was frozen. She looked like….she didn’t know who she was looking at. The amount of blood on this woman’s sickly pale face, with shining red eyes through the messy black hair was, well, unsettling would be an understatement.  
She started her bathtub. Thankfully for her it was designed for her Gerudo siblings, so her body had plenty of room. Grabbing some sewing tools she bite down on her teeth fixing her stitches. God she was tired of bleeding.  
Stepping into the water burned all her senses, and her heart finally started to beat faster. Taking the soap she started to scrub herself clean of all her layers of filth. The bath grew from a crystal clear water to a big red tub of red gunk. Taking the soap she scrubbed hard on her breasts, wiping away the guts of her friend. Finally she washed her head, desperate to get the smell off her. She just kept scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing, but mentally she felt there was always a bit of stench that just didn’t come out.  
Nearly finished she saw in the still water the image of Carlos. Leere’s eyes intensely looked at the water, the torn apart remains flickering in the waves. He smiles a sad smile, his lips curling a bit too wide, than reaches for her. His mangled arm actually comes out of the water to touch her. Leere yells in alarm at her mind bending on her, and smacks at the water to get rid of the image, her foot kicking out and unplugging the drain.  
Getting out as quick as she could she looks back at the tub, the arm no longer there. Slowly she pears back into the tub, the tension building, crawling down her back. No Carlos. Upon this she tiredly laughs to herself. “Of course…how about a shower for the rest of my clean.”  
Leere let the hot shower clean the rest of her off. Getting out she dried herself off, and entered her room. It was dark and quiet. Sitting down she curled up into her queen sized bed. Panting Leere gripped her bed sheets, smelling the sweetness of the clean fabric. Why then, did felt so empty. Everything felt so empty. Nothing mattered to her, nothing except the pain.  
Feeling her pillow case she found her hidden knife. It had a simple leather sheath to stop her from stabbing her head while sleeping. Taking it out all her dark thoughts swirled in her brain. The guilt of being the only survivor and the recent horrors that wracked her mind. Leere, pressing the blade to her neck, pushed. Rest. Just one motion.

 

 

 

 

 

  
A knock came at her door. A small amount of blood leaked as she nicked the side of her neck. Leere held the knife to her throat for a few more seconds, but dropped it. She couldn’t commit to it. At least not with the knocking. Hobbling over in sea of self doubt and judgement she opened the door to tell off whatever servant so she could try again.  
Only it wasn’t just any housemaid, it was Rinku. She had an angelic warmth that came to Leere just from looking at her. Rinku had a great amount of alarm in her eyes. “Leere, are you alright? There was blood leading to- By god those cuts!”  
“Rinku. You’re here? You’re back?”  
“Yeah, I came back a month ago.” Rinku steadily holds Leere’s shoulders. “Leere. What happened to you!? Are you doing ok?”  
Leere felt the weight of Rinku’s hands on her. The love and concern coming from her voice. It flipped a switch on in Leere and the Princess started to hyperventilate and cry, all her emotions pouring out like a geyser. “Oh-oh god! Oh God! OH GOD!”   
Rinku let Leere practically collapse on her, holding her adoptive sister close. “I’m here Leere. You don’t need to let go.”  
“Why am I alive?!”  
Rinku squeezed Leere close, their chests pressing together, the flow of their heartbeats in sync. “What matters is that you ARE alive. Just let it all out.”  
Leere kept crying and crying until she passed out in Rinku’s arms. Her mind took its toll processing her survivors guilt. It wasn’t until the next morning she woke up. Leere was afraid to open her eyes right away, in fear of seeing another nightmare. Moving around she felt something warm in her bed. Finally opening them she saw Rinku resting with her. On a nightstand were empty bottles of fairy extracts and clean bandages.  
Feeling her body Leere noticed much of her recent scars were gone do to the potions effects. Felt good to have fresh bandages as well. Taking a deep sigh she snuggled closer to Rinku’s warmth. The hero slowly woke. “You feel better?”  
“Yes. Thank you.”  
Rinku squeezed Leere’s hand. “I felt a deep pain within you Leere. It was terrifying for me to see you like that. I used what potions and medicine I could. Even some of my Triforce to make you feel better.”  
“You got a pretty big soul to help little old me.”  
“Hey, I got plenty to spare. Especially for you.”  
Leere pressed her face against Rinku’s neck. “Thank you again. Really. It means more then you know to me that you care.”  
“Hey. I’ll always care about you. Always.”  
Leere put a hand over her heart. “Rinku, will you accompany me to the countryside?”  
“Hmm? Of course.”  
The two woman got out of bed and Leere got properly changed. Leaving the castle Leere smiled at family members where she could, promising to catch up when she could. Going through castle town Leere went to the market and bought a charming locket from a shop woman and continued out to the fields. She was grateful to have Rinku beside her. The Hylian Hero helped push away the lingering thoughts of guilt and voices.  
Taking a shovel she dug a small hole and put the locket inside. Burying it Leere wrung her hands in worry, doing her best to not have another breakdown. “I’m…sorry Carlos. I couldn’t take anything of yours back with me, so I bought something I thought you might like. I know how you loved to get jewelry for your dates.”  
Leere looked up at the afternoon sun beaming down on her. “I can’t keep saying I should have done more. It’s not fair to either of us….all I can say is….I hope you are at peace once again Carlos. And I’ll do better to protect people next time. I’ll do better….goodbye.”  
Leere turned away from the small memorial she built. She wasn’t going to recover from her latest journey in one day, but this was a start. “I’m ready to go home.”  
Rinku smiled brightly at her. “Glad to hear it. Covarog convinced his wife that we should have Lasagna tonight.”  
Leere’s interest perked. “Chicken or Beef?”  
“Chicken I think!”  
“That sounds rather good.”  
Leere focused her thoughts on home. Her family was all she needed to focus on. Taking a break for a while would be just what she needed.


End file.
